This bombshell of a book did not get the attention it deserved when it was first published. This book follows Dr. Schonfield's two other bombshells, The Passover Plot and Those Incredible Christians. In the first two, the author presents his case that Christians missed the boat twice: first when they misunderstood the type of messiahship that Jesus was preaching, and second when they adopted pagan theories about a God-man. So they moved from errors about the message to even worse errors about the messenger.

In Politics of God, the author argues that God does indeed have a plan for humanity which He gradually reveals to mankind. It is basically that the kind of human values Jesus preached will definitely, inevitably, come to be realized and practiced by humanity one day.

Yet both traditional Judaism and traditional Christianity abandoned this insight, due to various historical reasons. Judaism seems to favor a nationalism that wields power, and Christianity seems to favor getting to heaven while letting the establish ment of God's Kingdom on earth simmer on the back burner.

What is needed now is a small dedicated group of people who will devote themselves to bringing God's Kingdom on earth, regardless of their "religious" persuasion. In secular terminology, he favors the establishment of a universal humanitarianism by means of loving service to others without any attempt to coerce. Schonfield says that this process will be slow and painful. He actively participated in several such organizations during the 1930-1950s. He spends many pages contrasting the urge to do the right thing by means of force (Romanism) with doing the right thing by means of service (Messianism).

While traditional Jews and Christians may not recognize him as an ally, this reviewer thinks that he is on the right path, and shame on us if we do not join him.

I am familiar with the 1985 hardcover edition. Schonfield's aim is to show the historical development of the New Testament. The books are arranged in historical order, with Mark coming first, then Matthew, then Luke then Acts... John's Gospel is towards the end with his three leters and Revelation, because Schonfield thinks it was wriiten later than the other books. Chapter and verse numbers are in the margiuns. Schonfield gives us what the documents looked like when they first appeared. His translation is wordy at times, especially in Luke's gospel. Mark is the clearest. John's prologue is set to verse. Is NT History is of interest to you, then this is a good book to look at. What current theories are applied? That Luke wrote both the third Gospel, and the Acts; That Matthew is composed of five books; That I & II Corinthians are really four letters. This book will help you look at the New Testament in a new way.